Railway rail and tie distributer.



PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903.

W. P. GUNNINGHAM;

RAILWAY RAIL AND TIE DISTRIBUTER.

SETS-SHEET 1.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28, 190 H0 MODEL. I

JNVEN WITNESSES:

PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903. W. P. CUNNINGHAM.

} RAILWAY RAIL AND TIE DISTRIBUTER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C Esra NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'VVILLIAM P. CUNNINGHAM, OF OOULEE CITY, WASHINGTON.

RAILWAY RAIL AND TIE DISTRIBUTER.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,820, datedJanuary 6, 1903.

Application filed July 28, 1902. Eerie-l No. 117,248. (No model.)

means for distributing ties and rails along the graded road-bed.

It consists of tie and rail conveyers supported at either side of theconstruction-cars, means for driving the conveyers to send the ties andrails forward, a turn-table supported above the ground, upon which theties are delivered from the conveyor, and a wagon having a horizontalendless carrier with spacingfingers thereon,'said carrier adapted to beoperated in either direction, first to be loaded from the turn-table andthen to discharge its load at proper intervals.

The invention also comprises details which will be more fully set forthhereinafter, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a side elevation of part of my dis-- tributing apparatus.same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the distributor-wagon andturn-table. Fig. 4 shows a modified form of tie-conveyor.

' A represents the cars of a train carrying.

ties and rails and advancing along the track as fast as the latterislaid. The ties andrails are discharged from the forwardend of the firstcar, the former from one side of the conveyers 2, the latter from theother side by the conveyers 3. The conveyers in each caseincludetrough-sections supported on brackets 4., fixed to the cars. In Fig. 2the conveyortroughs are shown as having a series of rollers 5, uponwhich the tie and rails are supported and carried forwardatintervals,which in the case of the tie-conveyor would be less than atie length. Certain of these rollers carry sprockets 6 on their outerends, over which pass link belts 7 to drive the rollers and carry theties forward over the intervening dead-rollers. The rollers ontheadjacent ends of each pair of trough-sections are provided with anadditional sprocket 8, and a Fig. 2 is a plan of the link belt 9 couplesup the sections, so that the rollers the entire length of the train maybe driven in unison andadvance the tiesand rails as they are deliveredinto the troughs at any point in the train. Guide-rollers 10, fixed tothe outer side of the troughs, serve to keep the chains 7 in engagementwith the sprockets 6. Power is transmitted to drive the rollers from anengine 11 on the rear end of the front car through suitable gearing 12,connecting the engine and one of the drive-rollers Sin conveyers 2 and3. If desired, in the case of the tie-conveyor, the rollers may beprovided with short spikes 13 upon their periphery, by which theadvancement of the ties is assured. In sending the rails forward intrough 3 I employ chains or belt conveyers'l4, passing over sprockets 15at either end of and returning beneath the trough. The chain conveyer,however, on the front car does not extend'thefull length of the car, asshown in Fig. 2, as it is desired that the rail should not be dischargedfrom the trough until it has been suitably engaged by a derrick, whenceit can be easily transferred .to its position on the sleepers. Where achain conveyer is used for ties, I may connect the two chains 14' bystraps of iron 16 at intervals and provide these straps with short sharpspikes 17, as shown in Fig. 4:.

From the forward end of the front troughsection 2 .a frame 19, havingrollers 20, extends thirty or forty feet infront of the train anddelivers the ties singly upon a turn-table 21. The latter has fourrollers mounted radially on the table and disposed each at right anglesto the two others flanking it. The table is mounted on wheels 22, whichare about ten feet apart and adapted to straddle the ends of the tieswhen the latter are laid in position on the road-bed. The end of theframe is suitably supported from the car, as by a cable 35, and theturn-table and frame end are connected so that as the train advances thetableis pushed on ahead. The turn-table may be steered from the car bymeans of atillerbar 23. If desired, the wheels 22 and tillerbar may bedispensed with and the table supported above the ground directly on theframe 19.

In .operation a tie is delivered from the conveyer upon one side of theturntable. The

latter is then given a quarter-turn to bring the tie across the road-bedand is then rolled onto the distributing-wagon 24. The latter is of suchheight, preferably, as to have its rear end flush with the table.

At either end of the wagon are shafts 25, upon which are fixed sprockets26. Chains 27, having spacing-fingers 28 fixed thereto, run over thesesprockets and return beneath the bed of the wagon. A crank 29 or othermeans connects with one of the shafts 25, whereby the shafts may berevolved to drive the chain-carrierin either direction. The distancebetween each of the succeeding fingers is such as to accommodateconveniently a single tie. As a tie is rolled from the table onto thewagon in front of any set of supportingfingers the crank 29 is actuatedto move the carrier forward to receive a tie from the table upon asucceeding set of fingers, and so on until the wagon is loaded,whereupon the team is started to move the wagon slowly forward and thecrank is revolved in the opposite direction to discharge the ties one byone from the rear end of the wagon. The ties are laid about two feetapart, and by this device they can be deposited to place with a minimumof effort and at a great saving of time and in the number of menemployed. When the wagon has been moved forward to discharge its load,it stops and waits until the rails are laid and the train comes up.I-Iaving laid the ties as described, sufficient rails are then sentforward through the conveyer 3 to complete that section of track.

Extending beyond the front end of the railconveyer is an arm 30, fromthe outer end of which depends a bar 31, carrying a roller 32,

which is in a horizontal plane substantially with the conveyer. When arail is run forward, it is supported in advance of the first car by theroller 32, then by means of a derrick 33 upon the front car the rail istaken and laid in position upon the ties or sleepers. As soon as a railis in position on either side of the track the train may move forward,pushing ahead the turn table, which now straddles the track.

It is possible to duplicate the construction here shown and provide theapparatus with a second series of conveyers on either side, douhie-deckfashion, whereby the sending forward of the ties and rails may be stillfurther expedited. The principle involved, however, would be essentiallythe same, and I do not consider it necessary to illustrate it here.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patcut, is-

1. A distributing apparatus, consisting in combination of aconstruction-carriage, conveyers thereon, a turn-table movable inadvance of said carriage, and means including carriers havingspacing-fingers by which the ties are taken from the turn-table andthence distributed along the road-bed.

2. In a distributing apparatus, the combivi'nsao nation of aconstruction-carriage, a tie-conveyer thereon, and a turn-table mountedon wheels and movable in advance of the said conveyer.

Y 3. In a distributing apparatus, the combination of aconstruction-carriage, a conveyer upon the side of said carriage, aturn-table mounted on wheels and adapted to straddle the track, saidturn-table connected with the carriage and movable in advance thereof.

4. Ina distributing apparatus, the combination with a construction-carof trough-sections supported on the sides thereof, conveying means insaid troughs by which ties and rails may be sent forward, andconnections between said conveying means and a source of power upon thecarriage, and a wheeled turn-table connected with, and movable inadvance of, the carriage.

5. In a distributing apparatus, the combination with a construction-car,of a troughsection thereon, rollers in said trough, sprocket-wheels onsaid rollers, chains passing over said sprockets and connections between said rollers and a source of power on the car.

6. In adistributingapparatus the combination with a construction-car, oftrough-sections upon either side of said car, conveyer means in saidtroughs, one of the latter adapted to send ties forward, and the otherto send rails forward, a projecting arm in front of said rail conveyersection, and dependent supporting means on said arm upon which a rail isreceived as it leaves the endof said section.

7. In a distributing apparatus of the character described, thecombination with a construction-train, of trough-sections upon eitherside of the cars thereof, conveyer means in said troughs, includingspike-shod rollers, connections between said conveyer means and a sourceof power, and connections between the adjacent ends of the sections bywhich all the conveyers upon either side of the train may be driven inunison to send rails or ties forward from any point in the train.

8. In a distributing apparatus of the character described thecombination with a construction-car, of a turntable mounted upon wheels,said turn-table having radially-disposed rollers upon which the tiesfrom the car are received.

9. In a distributing apparatus of the character described, thecombination with a construction-car and turn-table, of a wagon, endlesscarriers thereon, means by which said carriers may be turned in eitherdirection and projecting fingers upon said carriers between which a tieis adapted to be supported.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM P. CUNNINGHAM.

\Vitnesses:

O. M. RADER, O. B. FRANK.

